It’s predicated on the assumption that there are people who can “commit” the votes of at least ten members of their family.

This assumption (which, just for the avoidance of doubt, is THF’s and not mine) has a number of implications. That families have “heads” able to command what goes on in the ballot box. And that the vast majority of the people who vote for Lutfur because of the leaflet won’t be making autonomous decisions to do so.

That’s not a very flattering view of the people he expects to vote for him.

The leaflet doesn’t ask activists to “persuade other people”; but to “bring 10 family members to vote for Luftur Rahman and his team”. There’s no acknowledgement that other family members might need persuading; just an assumption that if you bring them to the polling station, they will vote the same way you do.

That is why the leaflet is notable.

Obviously, it’s not big or clever to throw in ad hominem insults like “So thick”, though that’s not unusual in 1. politics and 2. the internet.

Producing 10, sometimes less and sometimes more, votes is normal in households where the HEAD originated from the Indian sub-continent. A successful Head can get votes from relations too. Some HEADs tell their adult children how to vote on postal votes. Its nothing new.

Integration actually happens when family members recognise that this is not the way things are done in the UK – where we have freedom of thought and privacy in the ballot box.

Or are you suggesting that we should always accept activities – such as female genital mutilation – on the basis that this is the norm elsewhere in the world and hence OK here too?

You’ll find a lot of people who find that notion totally repugnant. It’s one thing to respect cultural activities which are not infringing in the laws of the land and quite another to just turn a blind eye “because this is the way things work in this culture”

The English political system places a very high priority on the privacy of the ballot box and people being able to vote how they please. So much so that it is protected by the law.

Nice words>blockquote>Integration actually happens when family members recognise that this is not the way things are done in the UK – where we have freedom of thought and privacy in the ballot box.but meaningless in reality. I witnessed a Catholic Indian telling his 29 year old hospital doctor daughter to open her postal vote and to whom she should put a cross against. The daughter did in front of me and her father. Even though the vote was for our candidate, I strongly objected, told the father and his daughter this is NOT the English way and said his daughter must be able to vote in private.

My record demonstrates I definitely object to vote rigging in all its forms.

FGM is now more widely publicised. When it wasn’t I campaigned locally against it. One of the people I helped with a housing issue told me it had been done to her. In case you really don’t know, FGM is evil, degrading and a major crime against all its victims. Its not a joke. It is too sad and serious to be used to make cheap political points.

The English political system places a very high priority on the privacy of the ballot box and people being able to vote how they please. So much so that it is protected by the law.

Claptrap. Please don’t waste my time with waffle. The English system is badly in need of a fundamental overall to comply with Human Rights. You conspicuously lack knowledge of everyday reality in England.

1. Voters’ personal details are deliberately misused by the state.

2. Voters’ personal details are sold to USA commercial companies by order of the state.

3. Blatant discrimination should end. For example a council tax paying Norwegian doctor saving people lives can not vote in local elections but someone from the English Queen’s Commonwealth who can neither read nor write and who never pays any council tax, can vote in local elections.

4. There is more but that is for another day in an entirely different place.

Integration actually happens when family members recognise that this is not the way things are done in the UK – where we have freedom of thought and privacy in the ballot box.

but meaningless in reality. I witnessed a Catholic Indian telling his 29 year old hospital doctor daughter to open her postal vote and to whom she should put a cross against. The daughter did in front of me and her father. Even though the vote was for our candidate, I strongly objected, told the father and his daughter this is NOT the English way and said his daughter must be able to vote in private.

My record demonstrates I definitely object to vote rigging in all its forms.

FGM is now more widely publicised. When it wasn’t I campaigned locally against it. One of the people I helped with a housing issue told me it had been done to her. In case you really don’t know, FGM is evil, degrading and a major crime against all its victims. Its not a joke. It is too sad and serious to be used to make cheap political points.

The English political system places a very high priority on the privacy of the ballot box and people being able to vote how they please. So much so that it is protected by the law.

Claptrap. Please don’t waste my time with waffle. The English system is badly in need of a fundamental overall to comply with Human Rights. You conspicuously lack knowledge of everyday reality in England.

1. Voters’ personal details are deliberately misused by the state.

2. Voters’ personal details are sold to USA commercial companies by order of the state.

3. Blatant discrimination should end. For example a council tax paying Norwegian doctor saving people lives can not vote in local elections but someone from the English Queen’s Commonwealth who can neither read nor write and who never pays any council tax, can vote in local elections.

4. There is more but that is for another day in an entirely different place.

If you want to make statements about what you personally have done maybe now is the time to start posting using your real name.

I’m not making flippant remarks – I regard the subjugation of women to the demands of men with respect to their vote as serious as FGM.

Both treat the woman as if she were the property of the man and not a human being in her own right with the right and capacity to determine what happens to her body and how she votes. I very deliberately used that example because of the complete disrespect shown towards women by both activities. Women in this country are entitled by law to better treatment.

ANONYMOUS details of electors are sold in terms of demographics (ie age/sex). What the Council cannot prevent is the wholesale copying of what is a public register of voters. You can however have your details withheld from the public register – or maybe you weren’t aware of this?

If you want to make statements about what you personally have done maybe now is the time to start posting using your real name.

Luckily for me, my ego does not require me claiming credit or fame for what I have achieved.

I’m not making flippant remarks – I regard the subjugation of women to the demands of men with respect to their vote as serious as FGM.

Silly. They are not comparable. FGM is a million times worse than voting abuse AND THE RESULTS LAST FOR EVER

Women in this country are entitled by law to better treatment.

Never mind laws. Mistreating women is wrong. It does not require a law to inform people that FGM and similar abuses are terrible crimes. Education helps.

ANONYMOUS details of electors are sold in terms of demographics (ie age/sex). What the Council cannot prevent is the wholesale copying of what is a public register of voters. You can however have your details withheld from the public register – or maybe you weren’t aware of this?

More misleading waffle. No one can stop their name and address on the electoral register being sold to USA commercial companies. There is NO opt-out.

People’s names and addresses on electoral registers are commercially SOLD. What planet are you currently inhabiting ? If you are going to pronounce on serious topics do try to get acquainted with the matter before writing misleading things. I assume you are not aware of virtually everyone’s NHS medical records being transferred to Google with age, date of birth and postcode but not name ???

Pyramid selling is a very apt description – with all the connotations of that particular scam!

This is what I call a major advertisement for THE END OF THE PRIVATE BALLOT BOX in Tower Hamlets

At some point the adult children and the women are going to learn how to stand on their own two feet and think for themselves instead of being pressured into voting the same way as the Head of the House.

Or maybe they are and the number of postal votes are a lot less than THF expected and consequently this is the response?

I actually had to go to Lutfur’s blog and his Facebook page to check that this was for real rather than somebody’s attempt to smear his campaign. But no, it is for real.

This is horrific because either a) the Mayor is genuinely trying to get entire families to vote the way their head tells them and is therefore officially sticking two fingers up to the privacy of the ballot box or b) it is simply a cackhanded attempt to get out the vote and the Mayor of a multi-billion pound local authority with tremendous challenges is unable to understand that this effort to get out the vote looks like a direct overrule of the privacy of the ballot box.

And c) it is horrific because the same Mayor (or should that be ‘would-be Mayor’) who is all about ‘One Tower Hamlets’ and constantly insisting that every other party is racist, is unable to see how this relates solely to one particular racial group in Tower Hamlets.

Like others, I don’t have 10 family members (of voting age or not), let alone 10 who live in the borough.

Those who don’t sign the pledge expecting a visit? Perhaps yes. There certainly is a record keeping element to that poster. “Please text…..”
I am almost tempted to do that just to find out what happens……

Yes, increase your support tenfold, create a ripple effect. It is actually a great idea if it works in the end. I bet Biggs’s team will be worried now. Apparently, Biggs has better odds with the bookies to win it. Helal Abbas also had better odds than Lutfur in 2010.

Well, the brass faced leaflet relieves us of the unedifying scenes we witnessed at the previous election of 10yr old [male/natch] children bellowing at their mothers/aunties/sisters & so on openly at top volume in the streets, to, “vote as you are told to by elders” [male/natch] –
We were & remain, as were the police, sickened. This campaign for THF by door to door, all but demanding to be told who we might vote for makes N Power sales teams look like shrinking, blushing violets.
Put Tower Hamlets First we surely do – which will not cannot happen while over half of voters are ‘slighted’ [undermined & divided] so thoroughly by such a small ax with a bunch of reeds bound to it by stained old rope.
Yeuuchh …… Here’s hoping the narcoleptic spell will be broken by a
large Djinn & Tonic – a miracle is overdue –

What is so grim about the (I am sure overwhelmingly non-Bengali) commentators here, is the inherent racist implication of their comments. They are implying ‘Bengalis are like sheep and vote for whom the ‘head of household’ tells them.’

What an absolute load of rubbish. I hope the less bitter and twisted of such commentators, and who see themselves as opposed to racism, will think again about making such silly assumptions.

I sincerely believe that there are many in the Bengali community who will ignore this old-fashioned demand to vote as your husband or father tells you. It’s a shame that this leaflet is trying to encourage this behaviour.

The leaflet implies the addressee’s family is like sheep and votes for whom the addressee tells them. That’s the problem with the leaflet.

I think it’s shameful to cry “racism” against people who are calling out that assumption. Particularly in such vague terms. I should be able to dig up some outrage – but I’m just wearily resigned to what Ted Jeory keeps pointing out is a standard part of political discourse here.

This is a very effective fund raising method. East London Mosque has raised millions using this technique. Not sure it’s right for election though. Makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Bet this strategy was devised in ELM after the Friday prayers.

It just goes to show how desperate Lutfur has become over the last few weeks. I think he is getting really worried that he may lose this election.

This leaflet is a daft idea and is only aimed at the Bangladeshi community. It clearly proves that Lutfur is interested in working mainly for the Bangladeshi community, he is not a leader for everybody in TH, that’s for sure. I am a British Bangladeshi and I would never vote for such a divisive person. More importantly, he has some rotten characters in his team and they also subscribe to the same ideology. It’s time we voted them out and bring about a real change that will benefit everybody.

Alibor Choudhury – a lot of the Bangladeshi voters know his bad boy history and there is a perception that he is a former drug dealer.

Aminur Khan – the wheeler dealer Lutfur’s secret advisor has been unlucky with the boundary change. He is also a master of getting postal votes but with so much scrutiny this time round he will have it tough.

Rafique Uddin – his team mate fellow candidate Mahbub Alam is desperately trying to work against him so that he gets through with Abdal Ullah. Mahbub is a devious character and uses Islam & brotherhood as his cover.

Rabina Khan – this will be a tough fight, three candidates are closely contesting for two seats and the vote difference will be marginal.

Abdul Asad – Labour’s new candidate Faruk is doing well against the THF boys and will surely win a seat. Asad is worn out and is being out preformed by his team mates.

Kabir Ahmed – poor performance so far and is a lazy campaigner. Not doing very well.

Rachel Saunders – weak performance so far and has a challenge with some strong opposition candidates.

Mauim Miah – his support base has been reduced due to the boundary change and will surely lose this time. Not that anybody will miss him, useless as a councillor.

Golum Robbani – inexperienced and really won last time due to Lutfur helping him out, won’t get very far this time as there is nobody to hold his hand.

Anwar khan – pretty obvious why he will lose, lost the Labour ticket.

Abdul Ullah – there maybe a surprise result in store for him. His opponents are successfully canvassing against him, he has also lost some of his critical support base including the Stepney FC group.

That’s enough for now, there are a few more, it’s late and I will update the list on another occasion.

Lutfur Rahman has got the hang of it alright. He was voted in as mayor in a secret ballot. Let’s say for argument’s sake that you get 10 of your friends and relatives to vote for Biggs, you won’t know in the end who they voted for in the secret ballot. They could have voted UKIP or TUSC, for example. Similarly, Lutfur is urging people to make a pledge that at least 10 of their family members will vote for him, but he won’t be able to actually make them vote for him. It’s secret ballot. Let’s not lose sight of that please.

Ted, you put this up on your blog, which whips up a mass hysteria amongst your regular cheerleaders who then engage in an orgy of Lutfur and THF bashing with racially charged comments while you sit back and take it all in. You should have a sense of responsibility and rein in these comments with racial undertones. You would do that if they had homophobic or anti-semitic undertones. So, why the apparent double standard? Do you think it is ok to make innuendos as long as they relate to the Bangladeshi and/or the Muslim community?

We are talking about a leaflet here Ted and you have allowed these shocking comments:

– women are subjugated by men;
– women are treated as objects by men;
– some non-sense about female genital mutilation.

This is a leaflet for goodness sake. People should just say why they do not agree with its approach without getting carried away and making racially charged comments.

Labour’s +1 campaign is to get another person to support Labour. Lutfur needs +10 because he does not have the Labour party machinery behind him. He needs to make a ripple effect. He does not just need their support; he needs their votes. This is what this leaflet is about. I will urge my friends and relatives to vote Lutfur, but what they do on the ballot paper in the polling station is entirely their business. I cannot put a gun to their head. Lutfur cannot put a gun to their head. This is a democracy and everybody has a free choice. Equally, every politician has the right to use whatever ‘legal’ means he/she has to get the votes out in their favour.

What’s shocking is that we have a leaflet by a Mayor who says he is standing for the whole community – and yet issues a leaflet which is very clearly aimed at just one cultural community within Tower Hamlets. I wonder how many votes will be generated for other candidates as a result of this leaflet?

What’s shocking is that we should have a culture in this community in which Bnagladeshi women are told what to vote by 10 year old boys screaming and shouting at them about what their elders told them to do – outside polling stations.

What is shocking is the whole notion that women shouldn’t be entitled to make up their own minds. Given the secret ballot, how can one person possibly give a pledge that 10 other people will vote for Lutfur. Why on earth would a Mayor ask that? The whole nonsense of this pledge rides on the back of the notion that Head of the Family tells the family how to vote. That’s medieval. This is the 21st century.

What is shocking is that we don’t have a political party which is standing up for the end of FGM in this borough.

P.S. I would also add that none of these comments would have been made but for this leaflet.

Any candidate standing for election is wholly responsible for the messages set out in their election leaflets and the language used. They need to think very carefully about what sort of impact they might have.

I’m assuming that Mayor Rahman and his supporters have already read it as it’s highly relevant to the campaigning in Tower Hamlets.

[QUOTE]Racial hatred
1.55 Under the Public Order Act 1986, it is an offence to publish or distribute threatening, abusive or insulting material that is intended to stir up racial hatred or which is likely to stir up racial hatred.[END OF QUOTE]

Let me make this very clear. I am not standing as a candidate. I am not supporting any particular party or any particular candidate. My comments are not racist. They reflect practices which have occurred in this borough which in my opinion reflect very poor practice in relation to the laws of the land. They are evidenced in witness statements made as comments to this post. The fact that you don’t like the fact I highlight them does NOT make them racist.

However if “Man on the Clapham Omnibus” will insist in calling my comments racist, then Lutfur Rahman has a major problem. That’s because “”Man on the Clapham Omnibus” is alleging that Rahman has breached the terms of the Public Order Act 1986.

Now my view is that Rahman in no way intended to breach that Act. Indeed he would be very stupid to do so.

At the same time, in my view, his supporters or whoever suggested the wording of that leaflet were negligent in considering the impact of the wording of that leaflet on those who do not have 10 relatives with a vote living in Tower Hamlets and/or those who regard the secrecy of the ballot box as sacrosanct and/or those who regard women’s right to vote as they please of paramount importance.

Surely, the criticism of this leaflet should be that it just does not work since you cannot control how an individual votes in the ballot box. You can make a pledge to get 10, 20 or even 30 friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances to vote Lutfur and his team, but, ultimately, who they vote for in the ballot box is entirely their decision. You could just be wasting your time making this pledge.

1. It is bright and red
2. It is detested by Lutfur’s detractors
3. It exposes the racist elements lurking in our midst
4. It is clever and may increase Lutfur’s votes manyfold
5. It creates a momentum amongst supporters of TH’s most progressive leader in recent history
6. It increases the civic participation whereby ordinary citizens pledge to get others to vote
7. It may increase the extremely low turnout that we are used to seeing in local elections
8. It creates a generation of political activists
9. It encourages people to connect with their relatives
10. It makes elderly residents like John Wright think about their dead relatives.

And as for the ‘ripple effect’ of building support that you have posted about in other comments, any ripple of support will be overwhelmed by the wave of anger that this leaflet causes among people who are not from the Bangladeshi community.

You claim that this blog is full of racist comments about the leaflets, Muslims and Bangladeshis. You are exceptionally fortunate that this leaflet has not (yet) been more widespread. This is just the sort of thing which incites riots. (NB for the record I am NOT calling for that to happen.)

I can just see the BNP, EDL or others organising a protest in the future and waving these leaflets around as proof that the vote is corrupted and TH is not being governed in the interests of all of its inhabitants. And Lutfur has created this.

Cllr Rabina this leaflet must be your idea hence you are fighting to defend the leaflet that everybody here agrees is crap. Your Team has lost the plot and they will need to be lot more smarter with their campaigning strategy, the Bangladeshi community are not as stupid as you guys like to think.

How many seconds would it take till the (allegedly) One Tower Hamlets Mayor Rahman starts screaming blue murder about the vote being corrupted by racists from one particular group within the community driving their families to the polls en masse to create an overwhelming force for one party which does nothing for Bangladeshis.